Taxi driver father of three among 7/7 terror suspects

The three were named by sources as Mohammed Shakil, 30, Sadeer Saleem, 26, and Shipon Ullah, 23.

All are understood to have links to the Beeston suburb of Leeds, where three of the 7/7 bombers also had strong connections.

They are being questioned by Scotland Yard counter-terror detectives at London's high-security Paddington Green police station on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts.

Officers have until tomorrow morning to question them before they have to apply to a magistrate for a further extension.

Shakil and Ullah were arrested yesterday lunchtime in the terminal building at Manchester Airport as they prepared to board a flight to Pakistan.

Saleem was arrested a few hours later at his home in Leeds.

Their arrests were the first of any significance in the hunt for those who supported and financed the four 7/7 suicide bombers who killed themselves and 52 innocent people in 2005.

It emerged today that Shakil was a taxi driver who recently handed in his notice, saying that he was going to Pakistan.

Shakil, a father-of-three, worked for Gee Gee Cars, according to the firm's owner Abdul Wahweed. A driver from the company took him to the airport yesterday.

According to Mr Wahweed, Shakil handed his notice in two weeks ago saying he was going to Pakistan for some time to deal with some family problems.

He ordered a taxi from an address in Leeds at 9.37am yesterday and was driven the 40 miles to the airport with another man.

Mr Wahweed said Shakil had worked for his firm since just before Christmas and was a model employee.

Speaking at his firm's base in Beeston, Leeds, Mr Wahweed said: "Often, if drivers are going to Pakistan for three or four weeks they'll just keep all their stuff but he rang to say he was going for some months and wanted to hand in his radio and everything."

The taxi boss went on: "He was very nice, a great nice lad.

"He was so polite and caused us no problems whatsoever.

"I never ever had any complaints about him in the four months he worked for me and he seemed very popular with the customers, especially the elderly people."

Mr Wahweed said Shakil was not picked up from his home at Firth Mount in Beeston, but was taken by a Gee Gee driver from an address in Lodge Lane in the city.

Shakil's neighbours in Firth Mount said he lived with his wife and three children, who are understood to be about 11 years old, about five years old and a small baby.

The taxi driver who drove Shakil to the airport said he was a "normal guy".

Paul Harrison said: "I just took him to the airport. We were just talking away. He just seemed like a normal guy.

"There was a young lad with him. He was sat in the front and Shakil was sat in the back. There didn't seem nothing untoward or anything, just talking as normal.

"He just said he was going on holiday for a break to see his dad because he was ill - maybe four weeks to eight weeks."

Speaking at his base at Gee Gee Cars in Beeston, Mr Harrison said they chatted about taxi driving and Shakil's father's illness.

Mr Harrison said his colleague had said his father was a millionaire who lived in the mountains of Kashmir.

He said he asked the men about religion and things like whether they drank.

"He didn't seem that bothered really," he said. "I thought he was quite a confident person. They were quite well-spoken, well-dressed. He didn't seem nervous or intimidated or anything."

Asked about his arrest, he added: "I was surprised. I was absolutely shocked because he didn't seem that sort of bloke at all.

"He didn't seem twitchy or nervous and he was talking to the other guy in English as well as talking to me."

Police are searching five houses in Beeston and one in Bromley-by-Bow, east London, in connection with the operation.

They say they are not looking for bomb-making equipment.

A search of a law college in Whitechapel has finished.

Speaking outside Holbeck police station today, West Yorkshire Police Chief Superintendent Mark Milsom said it would likely be a matter of days before the searches were complete.

He said: "Searches of houses often take days rather than hours and I think it's going to be a matter of days before things return to normal.

"People need to be a little bit patient in that respect."

Mr Milsom said he had met representatives of all members of the community, from different races and faiths, and was amazed by how they were pulling together.

"Nobody has been more affected by investigations into terrorism over the last couple of years than our community," he said.

"The overall message is that we are out there walking around the neighbourhood, talking to people, and keeping people informed of any changes."

Local people in Beeston today said they were "getting on with their lives" despite yesterday's operation, although many noted the difference between the high-profile raids of July 2005 and yesterday's low-key activity.

This morning, each of the five addresses was guarded only by two or three police officers, in marked contrast to 2005 when whole streets were cordoned off and scaffolding erected around a number of houses which were then covered in plastic.